Upper Deck sticks it to Michael Eisner

I've never heard of a baseball card recall, but that's what Upper Deck is doing right now.

It seems that Upper Deck "accidentally" randomly inserted parody cards of new rival Topps owner Michael Eisner into packs of the recently released Upper Deck Sweet Spot Baseball product. It seems clear that Upper Deck isn't fond of the former Disney CEO Eisner, whose Tornante Company along with Madison Dearborn Partners finalized a $385 million purchase of Topps in October after a battle with Upper Deck for most of the year. According to Collect.com, Upper Deck sent out this statement upon learning of their "accident":

It has come to our attention that 2007 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Baseball contains cards that should not have been included in the product release. Accordingly, The Upper Deck Company has sent notices to its customers requiring them to return any and all 2007 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Baseball product that they have received and/or that they may receive in the coming days.

A few cards are already up for sale on eBay, and one sold for $310 on Wednesday. The parody card features a caricature of Eisner made to look like Bazooka Joe. The character's name is "Michael Buysner."

The card has this on the back of it:

"Upper Deck welcomes this season's newest rookie, Michael Buysner. After humble origins as a page for a top TV network and stints that included crashing a hamboni machine at an Anaheim hockey arena, he is now the topp dog searching for a way to bring Bazonka Joe into the 21st century. As Big Cheese of his own cardboard kingdom, he is enthusiastically searching for the baseball cards his mom threw away and no one will be surprised to see a new big budget film titled, ‘Bazonka Joe and the Temple of Lost Trading Cards' in the very near future. Upper Deck wishes Buysner well – in the candy business."

I guess I should say something funny here, but what do I care. Eisner nearly ran Disney into the ground before being forced out and now he's involved in something I stopped caring about 15 years ago.

Still, nice effort Upper Deck. Nice work indeed.

-WCK